Political Wire

Secret Pay-for-Play Text Rocks Trump White House

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“Top Trump adviser Ric Grenell allegedly outlined a stunning pay-for-influence offer to a Turkish billionaire last year: access to ‘POTUS,’ ‘VIP events’ and administration officials, according to a text message that the White House counsel is investigating,” Axios reports.

“Administration officials say the text is a key piece of evidence in the White House’s investigation — ordered by President Trump — into whether Grenell abused the president’s trust and misappropriated a potential multimillion-dollar donation to the Kennedy Center, which Grenell led at the time.”

More Republicans Say Trump Is Enriching Himself

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“Nearly 2 in 3 Americans say President Donald Trump is using the presidency to enrich himself — and most of the increase over the past year has come from people who lean Republican,” according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll.

”Among Republicans and independents who lean Republican, 34 percent believe Trump is enriching himself, up from 22 percent in September 2025. Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents were already nearly unanimous, at 88 percent a year ago and 92 percent now, while independents who don’t lean toward either party were unchanged.”

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Donor Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Kimberly Guilfoyle

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“Eric Deters, the Republican donor who accused Kimberly Guilfoyle of asking him to wire her $100,000 to pay her American Express bill in exchange for her help with the Trump administration ahead of her Senate confirmation hearing, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Guilfoyle and her legal team,” CBS News reports.

“Guilfoyle was pushed out of her ambassadorship to Greece earlier this week, announcing her resignation Tuesday. Guilfoyle’s team publicly disputed the authenticity of text messages Deters shared with multiple news outlets.”

Secret Documents Reveal Donors Behind Trump’s Ballroom

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“A list obtained by The Washington Post reveals all the major donors to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, including previously undisclosed contributors who have benefited from regulatory decisions, government contracts and, in one case, a pardon for a family member,” the Washington Post reports.

“Tech giants Nvidia and Apple each committed $25 million, the top contribution amount, the list shows. The Adelson family, one of the GOP’s largest donor dynasties, committed that sum as well, as did billionaire Charles Ergen, co-founder and chairman of telecommunications company Dish Network.”

Trump Asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to Resign

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“Kimberly Guilfoyle has officially been asked to resign,” the New Republic reports.

“During her first White House press briefing Tuesday, newly-minted Press Secretary Katie Zacharia was asked whether President Donald Trump planned to remove his ambassador to Greece following allegations that she engaged in illegal conduct.”

Said Zacharia: “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.”

Most Say Trump Is Illegally or Unethically Profiting

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“Most Americans think Donald Trump is profiting off the presidency in unethical or illegal ways and is focused more on his wealth than helping people like them, a new Associated Press-NORC poll finds.

“As Trump’s family business pulls in record money from new ventures helped by his policies, the survey finds that when it comes to allegations that Trump is profiting from the presidency, about 6 in 10 U.S. adults believe he is either illegally profiting or doing something unethical but not illegal. Only about 2 in 10 think the Republican president is doing nothing wrong, while a similar share say they don’t know enough to say.”

“At the same time, just over half of Americans say Trump has prioritized his personal financial interests ‘a lot’ since returning to the White House, while only about one-quarter say he puts the same emphasis on the country as a whole. Few U.S. adults, about 1 in 10, say he’s focused ‘a lot’ on people like them.”

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

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“Trump is a coward who is weaponizing his DOJ to fuel hate and intimidate his opponents with baseless attacks like these, just like he’s doing with Rep. McIver, Lisa Cook, and Tish James.”

— Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), quoted by the HuffPost, on the raid of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) home early this morning.

The Case of a CIA Officer Who Duped His Fellow Spies

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NBC News: “Marble floors. Oceanfront views. Cathedral ceilings. The estates were in Palm Beach’s most prestigious neighborhoods, and they were worth tens of millions of dollars.”

“Senior CIA officer David Rush bought the luxury residences with government money, telling his associates that it was all for an ultrasecret intelligence project. The price tag for the four properties came to $145 million. And as it turns out, there was no secret project.”

Democrats Tie Corruption to High Costs

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“Democrats who have spent months emphasizing the high cost of living in their fight to win control of Congress are increasingly invoking corruption in Washington to sharpen that message in the closing weeks of the campaign, blaming self-dealing by politicians for driving up prices,” the New York Times reports.

“Armed with research showing that voters have grown numb to the idea that politicians cannot be trusted, Democrats are using the message to stoke anti-incumbent sentiment as Republicans attempt to defend their slim House and Senate majorities. Their claim is that rampant corruption in Congress and the administration is directly costing average citizens who are paying more for necessities like groceries, gas and medicine while those in power get rich through insider knowledge, pay-to-play schemes and the backing of billionaires and powerful corporations.”

“That message is taking center stage in political ads, speeches and debates in some of the most competitive races in the country.”

Musk’s DOGE Army Now Profits From Government

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“Last year, billionaire Elon Musk unleashed a small army of Silicon Valley techies to drain what he called the ‘swamp’ of Washington — wielding the U.S. DOGE Service to slash at a bureaucracy they argued was bloated and corrupt,” the Washington Post reports.

“But today, many of his former DOGE foot soldiers have leveraged their government stints to fuel private-sector ambitions: building companies that tap government largesse or that deploy knowledge they garnered during their brief tenures in Washington.”

Vance Signals Discomfort After Kimberly Guilfoyle Report

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“Vice President JD Vance said Thursday he took issue with anyone seeking financial gain in exchange for access to Trump administration officials after a report claimed Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, sought funds and offered access to top administration officials ahead of her confirmation,” CNN reports.

Said Vance: “Obviously I don’t love that…  Of course I don’t like anybody selling access to another government official, certainly a high-level government official.”

The Bulwark: Leaked Kimberly Guilfoyle texts reveal brazen corruption.

Democrats Make Corruption a Campaign Focus

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“Across the country, Democrats running to flip some of the nation’s most high-profile House seats this cycle are offering a similar pitch: Vote for me to clean up corruption in Washington,” MS NOW reports.

“While the specifics may vary, candidate after candidate is offering their own plans to rein in malfeasance. Most hit on similar themes: ban stock trading by members of Congress, bar corporate dollars in politics, impose term limits — even on members of the Supreme Court — and restrict members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.”

“It’s part of a larger trend this cycle, with Democrats making corruption a central tenet of their ads and campaign messaging, often incorporating it into their broader argument about addressing the cost of living.”

Kimberly Guilfoyle Pushed Donor to Wire $100,000 to Her

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“Kimberly Guilfoyle was preparing for her congressional hearing to become U.S. ambassador to Greece when she reached out to a Trump donor with an urgent request: She needed $100,000 that she said she owed American Express—in a way that wouldn’t leave a paper trail,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said Guilfoyle, in a message on Signal: “It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express. Please.”

Ex-CIA Officer Admits to Far Larger $145 Million Scam

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“A former CIA officer who the authorities say stashed hundreds of gold bars in his home admitted in court on Tuesday to a far larger web of deception, including a $145 million scam involving luxury real estate and providing sensitive intelligence to a foreign government official,” the New York Times reports.

“The shocking details of the case were revealed in federal court in Alexandria, Va. where David J. Rush pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud, which could earn him up to 20 years behind bars.”

The Trump Administration Is a Cesspit of Corruption

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Paul Krugman: “The cesspit of corruption that is Donald Trump’s presidency is finally getting the attention it deserves. It’s about time. And if a massive blue wave sweeps Washington on November 3rd as polls now suggest, Democrats should put corruption front and center of their agenda in Congress.”

“The level of corruption that Trump has engaged in and enabled in others is completely unprecedented – self-dealing that, as Trump would say, is like nothing anybody has ever seen before.”

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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